The First Sight

Michael

The wolf's howls echoed in the middle of the forest like a call, or perhaps a war declaration. It might be both, but to me, they were more than anything else, a battle cry, one to which I intended to respond.

I opened my eyes. Even in my human body, developed senses were part of my nature. Sometimes I didn't understand how humans moved forward as if they were blind, or deaf. All they knew to do was scream, and man, they did scream loud.

I did feel like a human once, but I left that part of me behind a long time ago. I had been something else for so long that I might have forgotten what it was like to walk blindly through the world, and that was precisely why I felt I must protect them because I knew how helpless they were in the face of reality.

I took off my clothes as the cold of the night greeted me, but although it had begun to snow, the cold did not bother me, since the snow melted long before it touched me due to my high body temperature. Inside me, the wolf was pushing to get out, ramming my senses and making my skin burn with anxiety.

Changing to wolf form and back was easy for me, but sometimes it required a lot of control to ignore the wolf inside, using my strength as Alpha to dominate myself. This time, I shifted to move swiftly through the trees. My breathing quickened as I moved forward; as a wolf, my senses were amplified one hundred percent, so that the forest hid no secrets from me.

"Michael." Francis, my Beta, called then in the midst of my thoughts, speaking to me in the pack mind without speech as humans would know it. "They penetrated our defenses. They attacked a group of humans near the edge of the forest."

I growled under my breath, knowing that Francis's statement was correct. The scent of human blood floated on the wind to me, even across the distance.

Another scent prevailed in the forest. I sped up as Robert's mind joined the collective thought of the pack. The two of them together went to look for any possible survivors.

In the forest, I could sense almost everything, so I knew clearly that at the very least, one or two of the boys were already dead. The reason for this unjustified slaughter could be none other than that Damien. My enemy of so many years had decided to break the precarious pact that existed between us, although I couldn't understand why.

Damien and I were friends once, almost like brothers, but that friendship ended the day he blamed me for what he called a curse, as well as for the demise of the woman we both fell in love with in life: Anna. He never forgave me, and since then, we have remained enemies.

But Damien was no fool. He knew that I was stronger than him, more agile, and much faster. My wolves were better trained and mastered their nature in many more ways. He didn't bother the people of Bamberg, whom I protected, and in return, I didn't bother him, or at least, that was the deal.

But now, he had decided to go against the rules. There was no other explanation for there being a new shapeshifter in the area, so I would soon have to face Damien again. In the course of that thought, my paws sped up, crossing the forest at an impossible speed. I had perceived the breathing of the werewolf, or rather, of the attacking female werewolf, but I had also recognized something else: the heart of a human, of a girl trying in vain to flee from her pursuer.

With haste, I ran toward them, with a growl in my throat that made itself present at the sight of the golden fur of the werewolf. I dashed at the intruder without waiting, knowing that my presence would catch her off guard, and she dodged my teeth by barely a centimeter.

Her body was much smaller than mine, but she was fast and had sharp reflexes. Her eyes met me in the middle of the path, then the girl I had cornered fell off the cliff into the frozen waters at the bottom of the path.

"Francis, Robert. Hunt down the intruder!" I ordered my pack, showing them through my mind the image of the intruder, as well as her scent.

They sensed it, and immediately their howls pierced the forest, like an affirmation. The werewolves heard them and ran; I jumped over the cliff after the girl, knowing that her body would not resist the impact or the cold of the water.

And like that, my body felt the sharp impact of the water in a matter of seconds. I soon rushed to pull my head out of the frost, trying to breathe. I then began to swim, sniffing the air and seeing the girl before me, whose face began to sink in the middle of the current. Her skin was pale as the dead, but I managed to catch up with her before she swallowed too much water, and soon I started swimming toward the shore while clutching the girl with my teeth by the hood of her jacket.

Meanwhile, the race of my wolves unfolded in the forest. I sensed them setting off after the intruder. Robert spotted her and growled, leaping to meet her, but she dodged him. She was no faster than Francis, but she was smarter, so I sensed her as she used the bush and trees around her to dodge them. I could stop her myself if I were on the spot, and I sent my orders to the wolves as they cornered her, but she moved through them, passing between Robert's legs, dodging Francis' bite, and then jumping into the river.

They followed her and finally jumped in, though it was all in vain. As they emerged from the water, they told me through the pack's mind that she seemed to have vanished into thin air.

Grunting, I emerged from the freezing waters; the water evaporated from my skin as I felt the warmth emanating from it. I gazed at the girl, noticing that she didn't seem to be breathing.

I leaned toward her, trying to push the rest of my thoughts out of my mind so that I could turn it and better notice the rhythm of her breathing.

And that was when I noticed it. As I watched her, a strange current ran through me, stronger than the impact of the cold on my skin; stronger even than the invigorating sensation that ran through me when I changed my form.

For a moment I held my breath. I couldn't help but stare at her, wondering what it was about this simple human that caused such a strong reaction in me, but soon, Francis's calls in my thoughts came through, forcing me to push the feeling aside to focus on what he was saying.

"Michael, we've lost her." Francis said, with a snarl stuck in his lips, and guilt gripping his senses, "Her trail is gone from the road. She's probably run through the water so we can't follow her scent."

"Keep looking for her anyway. Francis, go upstream and find that woman. Robert, return to your human form and contact emergency services. Makeup something believable to justify what happened. Don't let those foolish teenagers die."

I waited, helpless, because I should be there, and not here, apart from them... Yet, as I looked at the girl, I remembered that it was my mission to keep her alive, so I held her, unwilling to allow her to die on my watch.

My face then lowered to her. I placed my hand against her mouth and silently, I asked her forgiveness for what I was about to do... I imagined, all in all, that she would understand. It was the only way to save her life.

My lips met hers, and soon, the rest of the world faded away as I tried to focus on that one sound I cared to find: The pulse of her heart, which told me she was still alive.